Trump disapproves of Israeli hospital strike, unaware in advance

WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday expressed displeasure over an Israeli strike on a Gaza hospital that killed at least 20 people, while stating he had not been previously aware of the attack.

Israel struck Nasser hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip on Monday. Those killed included five journalists who worked for Reuters, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera and other media outlets.

Trump said "I didn't know that" when he was asked about the strike at the White House on Monday.

"Well, I'm not happy about it. I don't want to see it. At the same time, we have to end that ... nightmare," Trump told reporters.

Israel's military, the Israel Defense Forces, acknowledged striking the area of Nasser hospital and said the chief of the general staff had ordered an inquiry. In a statement, the IDF said it regrets harm to "uninvolved individuals" and does not target journalists.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate condemned Israel for the strikes, saying it represented "an open war against free media, with the aim of terrorising journalists and preventing them from fulfilling their professional duty of exposing its crimes to the world".

The syndicate said more than 240 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since the war started on October 7, 2023.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, which put the number of journalists and media workers killed since the war began at 197 including 189 Palestinians in Gaza, called for "the international community to hold Israel accountable for its continued unlawful attacks on the press".